Writer E. Jean Carroll leaves a Manhattan courthouse after a jury found former President Donald Trump liable for sexually abusing her in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s on May 09, 2023, in New York City. The jury awarded her $5 million in damages for her battery and defamation claims. Carroll has testified that she was raped by former President Trump, giving details about the alleged attack in the mid-1990s. Trump had stated that the attack never happened and has denied meeting her. He did not take the stand during the trial. SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES
Former President Donald was found liable for sexual assault E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s by a New York grand jury in a civil case. He is ordered to pay $5 million in damages.
A former Elle Magazine columnist, Carroll had accused Trump in 2019 in a memoir that described her encounter with the former president. The bumped into each other at Bergdorf Goodman, a department store in New York City.
She described the details in her book “What Do We Need Men For?: A Modest Proposal”.
Carroll said that Trump attacked her in the dressing room giving a detail about the attack at the time. She also said about it in the testimony where the details were very graphic.
Trump has consistently denied that the attack on Carroll never took place. He accused the writer of making up the story to profit from her books in 2019.
“I have absolutely no idea who this woman is. This verdict is a disgrace – a continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time,” Trump said about the verdict on Truth Social.
He refused to take the stand to defend himself in the trial. Trump’s legal is expected to appeal the verdict.
“We’re very happy,” Carroll said about the verdict.
Carroll’s attorney showed the deposition of Mr. Trump denying who she was where he was calling her a “wack job” and a “liar”. He also said that “she was mentally sick.”
Trump has repeatedly called the investigation a witch hunt, which he has described the other cases brought against him.
The full 48-minute clip was release to the public where Trump denied knowing Carroll. He was presented a picture where he stated that the woman in the picture was his second ex-wife, Marla Maples.
“She is doing this for money, political reasons and status,” Trump lawyer, Joe Tacopina said in his closing arguments of the E. Jean Carroll civil trial. “And in doing so, she is minimizing true rape victims and destroying their pain and capitalizing on them.”
Testimonies had included Carroll’s best friend Lisa Birnbach, who she told her about the incident after it happened at the department store. She also had told another friend Carol Martin of the incident.
After the incident happened, Martin had told Carroll not to go to the police in fear of retaliation from Trump’s lawyers.
The E. Jean Carroll civil trial marks that second trial Trump has lost as his company, The Trump Organization, was found guilty on tax fraud. The company was ordered to pay a $1.6 million fine on 17 counts that included charges on conspiracy and falsifying records. Former CFO Allen Weisselberg plead guilty on manipulating the company’s books to reduce his taxes.
Legal woes during the upcoming election cycle for Trump includes the classified documents, January 6, and the Georgia election interference.
Trump is currently facing a criminal charge related to the hush money payment related to Stormy Daniels that was carried by his former attorney Michael Cohen.
As his legal woes pile up, Trump is currently the frontrunner for the GOP nomination and is leading the Washington Post-ABC polls in a hypothetical general election match up against incumbent President Joe Biden.
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